Fanview: May 18, 2017

This is not the “little blonde” Groucho had in mind… (Photo courtesy of Paul Barraza)

By Joe Torosian

“I said one of them goes around with a black mustache.”—Captain

“So do I, if I had my choice I’d go around with a little blonde.”—Groucho

Kick it!

Right off the Top: I would have posted a column yesterday, but I developed a blister on my thumb. It made pressing the space bar on the keyboard absolutely excruciating.

***

I’d like to see NFL teams bring back the split-backfield. Boobie Clark & Essex Johnson…McCutcheon & Bertelsen…

***

Question: Are spring passing tourneys about getting better? Getting a sense of another teams talent?…Or…Recruiting talent?

***

I was asked how I feel about women broadcasting major sporting events like football, basketball and baseball.

“Have you heard Jessica Mendoza?” I answered. “She might be the best thing going at ESPN these days…Remember Jeanne “Go Go” Zelasko? She was great.”

“Do you have any problem with it?”

“My problem is the same with anyone in a position of responsibility. You shouldn’t get a pass if you suck. If a female broadcaster sucks, she shouldn’t get a pass because she’s a woman. President Obama should not have been given a pass because he was black. Lavar Ball shouldn’t be given a pass because his son loves him…And Jared Goff shouldn’t be given a pass because he was drafted number one overall.”

That’s what I said…And then I was “Unfriended.”

***

Up front—because I know some jackwagon is going to accuse me of being heartless—I am sorry for anyone—player/non-player—suffering with health issues. Outside of someone in the medical field, my day job exposes me far more than the average person to people going through serious medical issues.

Now for the, “but…”

…I’m having a hard time with Hall of Famer/former Miami Dolphins middle linebacker, Nick Buoniconti’s anger with the NFL and his claims the league is just waiting for him and older players to die.

Buoniconti is 76 years old. He played his last NFL game in 1976. He’s a lawyer. He worked for years as host of Inside the NFL on HBO…This guy’s post-NFL career has been among the most productive of anybody from his era, and now at a time in life when things start to break down, it’s football’s fault?

Of course, Sports Illustrated…is happy to help out.

He’s 76, and he’s been diagnosed with dementia. That is awful, but I’ve buried people who were in their 50’s and died of dementia, and they didn’t play football.

There’s no doubt NFL veterans from the 80’s, 70’s, and 60’s have been after-thoughts to the league…But they’ve also been after-thoughts to the players union when it comes to their care.

So you get angry people (including players families) together with ambulance chasing lawyers and self-important, sanctimonious, media outlets…and it becomes easy to take a report and exploit it to their benefit.

There’s obviously some truth to it; professional football has to take a toll. It’s been good that is has re-invigorated the teaching of the fundamentals of tackling at all levels (as opposed to just hitting)…But to declare it all conclusive is ridiculous.

…and then you add in that stupid, dumb-butt, fraudulent Will Smith movie on CTE…and, yeah, some of us become hesitant about the source of Buoniconti’s ailments…and sorry to say, suspicious of those driving the agenda.

***

Midbits (same as ‘Tidbits’)
Midbits: Has anyone considered giving Dodgers utility-guy Chris Taylor a urine test?

Midbits: Diana Taurasi is about to become the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer…On a similar note, I recently made a terrific bean & bacon soup.

Midbits: “I hope the Celtics take Lonzo.”—Aram Tolegian

Midbits: Do you think the Cubs are missing Dexter Fowler?

Midbits: Former San Marino running back, Benny Hung turns 25 today.

The Dude abides…

665

Job 8:8-9

Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com

Author of “Tangent Dreams: A High School Football Novel” & “The Dead Bug Tales” both available through amazon.com and Barnes & Noble

Follow Joe on Twitter @joet13b

Follow “Joe Torosian’s Books” on Facebook

 

22 Comments to "Fanview: May 18, 2017"

  1. Nicotine's Gravatar Nicotine
    May 30, 2017 - 12:21 pm | Permalink

    @General Turgidson Looks like someone doesn’t understand the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

  2. SGV's Gravatar SGV
    May 27, 2017 - 2:59 pm | Permalink

    OH BOY!!! The low self-esteem narcissists have arrived. Shove everybody’s opinion aside and look at me. “You are all stoopid except the brilliant me”. Sound familiar?

  3. General Turgidson's Gravatar General Turgidson
    May 26, 2017 - 8:01 pm | Permalink

    hey! No one told me drinking poison could be bad!!! Sue the poison company!!!

    Morons like you are part of the problem with this wussified world.

    Why don’t boxers complain?

    Because they didn’t sign up to be doctors. They signed up to play a tough violent sport. No one forced them to do it. It’s obvious bad things could happen.

    And I’m not AT ALL convinced that the cte issue isn’t just the flavor of week cause that all the killjoys like you use to control more of people’s freedoms.

    FAKE NEWS.

  4. General Turgidson's Gravatar General Turgidson
    May 26, 2017 - 7:57 pm | Permalink

    It’s all fake news. People have no idea how gullible and stupid they are. Google the Dunning-Kruger effect. Stupid people don’t know they are stupid.

    So many ways to poke holes in that ridiculous “concussion” bs and that crap flop of a movie. Its disgusting frankly. Anyone who knows anything about the scientific method can tear the whole house down in less than a minute.

    Most people are also too stupid to know how powerful monetary incentives are. People can kill each other over 5 bucks. When millions are at stake, people will say and do anything.

  5. Nicotine's Gravatar Nicotine
    May 19, 2017 - 12:05 pm | Permalink

    Lastly, someone said it best earlier in the thread, “Players are not suing because they got hurt. (Note that nobody sued regarding the long-term impact of knee injuries, etc.) The issue at hand here is that management, and representatives of management willfully stifled and misrepresented the effects of brain trauma.”

  6. Nicotine's Gravatar Nicotine
    May 19, 2017 - 12:02 pm | Permalink

    In the end, it was the cover up and the suppression that is the issue. If they allowed the study to come out without interference there would be no lawsuits. They didn’t and than claimed the opposite. As for Frito Lay, they have allowed for the finding to come out and we know that the amount of salt and crunch makes them difficult to stop eating. Again, they did not suppress these studies, hence no lawsuit. Everyone gets held accountable. People who smoke and athletes are paying for, as you would say, willful ignorance, and the NFL and Tobacco industry are paying for covering up science. If you think this info has no impact, look at what has happened to the numbers of smokers and the numbers of young people playing youth football. Obviously, this information had value and sway.

  7. Colt74's Gravatar Colt74
    May 19, 2017 - 10:40 am | Permalink

    You seem to be under the delusion that ONLY cigarette companies lie about their products or add substances to make them more addicting.
    Search the web for “added substances in products for making them more addictive”.
    It’s what all food manufacturers do.
    The calorie count in products can be 25% off in the listings. So, would that be a lie or operation under the guidelines?
    Sodas add caffeine. Why do you suppose that is? Unhealthy chemicals are added to almost everything to improve taste and to trick your brain into wanting more. Sue them all!
    Where we differ is that we both agree that companies lie, but some people are smart enough not to believe the lies and most are not.
    I had no delusions when I started smoking that it was harmless by any stretch of the imagination. I made a conscience choice. Every one that smokes is an idiot. Every smoker on the planet will call themselves an idiot. Some make a choice to stop being an idiot. Others blame a company for their lack of conviction to stop or their lack of willpower.
    If you trust any company selling a product to have your well being as their driving force for sales, I have some beach front property to sell you in Arizona.
    Caveat emptor.

    Now tell me how every football player thinks that the game is good for their bodies. And that now they should sue for the delusions. ( both in believing that and now their lack of daily cognizance )

  8. Nicotine's Gravatar Nicotine
    May 19, 2017 - 9:08 am | Permalink

    @Colt74 IT’s because they lied that people can sue. It’s called the law. You seem to not understand the creating addiction in a product, but like you said you chose to put a cancer stick in your mouth and as a special kind of stupid are making the decision to “man up” I guess. Maybe we can give you a trophy. Real courage of you. I guess because most people never smoke, you are …Funny

  9. Colt74's Gravatar Colt74
    May 18, 2017 - 4:51 pm | Permalink

    I’m not defending tobacco companies. I am also not defending the poor schmuck that is dying.
    And me quitting cold turkey has EVERYTHING to do with it. If I can quit why again could not everyone else?

    Oh that’s right…personal choice. Nothing more, nothing less.

    “Do. Or do not. There is no try”

    So the problem is not that cigarettes will kill you, it’s that with the added chemicals they will kill you better?

    I don’t care how much the companies lied. If after people watching commercials on TV where doctors said they were good for you, and the light bulb did not come on for El Torro Poo-Poo, then you are a special kind of stupid and here’s your sign.
    Done. Not going to change your mind just as you are not going to change mine.

  10. Barry's Gravatar Barry
    May 18, 2017 - 4:00 pm | Permalink

    Props to Santa Fe for taking it, however the tournament wasn’t exactly loaded if you ask me.

  11. Nicotine's Gravatar Nicotine
    May 18, 2017 - 3:07 pm | Permalink

    @Colt74 The fact that the tobacco companies added other chemicals to cigarettes to enhance the addictiveness of the nicotine is the issue. That’s not the same as just knowing they are bad for you. I know eating a bag of Dorittos is bad for me, but if Frito Lay is injecting them with a chemical that makes it so the majority of people cannot physically stop eating them and then covering that up, that’s an issue. As for the fact that you quit cold turkey, has no relevance to this. My issue is, what about the personal responsibility of the industry to disclose the science behind their product, or at the least not suppressing it. When this is uncovered, don’t they have a personal responsibility to suffer consequences. I never understood why the poor schmuck who is dying gets lectured, but the corporation that isn’t going to feel the fine anyways gets defended.

  12. Pac 5 Scout's Gravatar Pac 5 Scout
    May 18, 2017 - 2:39 pm | Permalink

    I have had more than a few HC’s tell me 7 on 7 tourneys are just a tool to keep players out of the streets. First they’re fun, after that is team chemistry, competitiveness, aggressiveness and quarterback smarts.

  13. Really?'s Gravatar Really?
    May 18, 2017 - 1:39 pm | Permalink

    Hey Joe I get it all!

    Is it really unreasonable to take care of those gridiron greats with all the money the NFL generates these days. Sure it is Mr Trump! Its a preexisting condition. LOL Maybe the REAL Players Association could take out a tax on all the players to help those old guys on their own. Nah! I think they all need more BLING!! Those players do not not have to be little bitches either. As we all know “the squeaky wheel gets the oil.” Maybe, the MLB players should pay homage to Curt Flood too? Well thats another old tale!

  14. Colt74's Gravatar Colt74
    May 18, 2017 - 1:20 pm | Permalink

    I get it that the cigarette companies lied.
    I get it that nicotine is addictive.
    The 1964 Surgeon General’s report, which recognized smoking as a cause of lung cancer. Cigarettes were suspected of causing cancer in the 1940’s. Studies linking them together were done in the 30’s.
    For 53 years now people have known without a doubt. I did and I still smoked. For 38 years. For as addictive as nicotine is I quit cold turkey 7 years ago. Am I special? Or did I just really WANT to quit?
    Again, it took our government to come out and say in 1964 what people have known since the 30’s.
    And yet people today still smoke.
    Would that be the cigarette companies fault or theirs?
    Their is a well defined line between not knowing and not caring.

  15. Nicotine's Gravatar Nicotine
    May 18, 2017 - 12:34 pm | Permalink

    @Colt74 The problem with your argument is that the issue with the tobacco companies was not that people were unaware of the harms of tobacco. It was that the cigarette companies hid the science of nicotine and it’s addictive property. “Dr. DeNoble said his research had led him to believe that nicotine was addictive “on a level comparable to cocaine” and contrary to the statements of Philip Morris executives.” (New York Times).

  16. Colt74's Gravatar Colt74
    May 18, 2017 - 12:25 pm | Permalink

    So let me see if I have this straight. A tobacco company and doctors tell you that smoking is ok. And you believe them. Who’s fault is that again? Not once did a second of common sense kick in. I guess everyone should believe what Trump says too? Or would that be common sense kicking in?
    You can’t fix stupid. You can only substitute it with gullible.
    I am an ex 38 year smoker. I knew from day 1 it was bad for me. One day 7 years ago I wised up.
    If someone offerd me a million dollars or more to play football I would jump at it. But I also would know the possible and likely consequences.
    If ANY football player was to say to me that they didn’t think that they could do harm to their body by playing I would call them a liar to their face.
    I get it. Really I do. In this day and age it’s ALWAYS someone else’s fault. Their is no longer any such thing as personal responsibility.

    Readers Digest Condensed Version: Personal responsibility.

  17. Really?'s Gravatar Really?
    May 18, 2017 - 11:29 am | Permalink

    You know, Colt74 there are differences. Nobody, I mean nobody, smoked cigarettes and got paid for it. It was never listed as a profession by the government. Maybe a poor college youth was paid for their opinion on the taste of said cancer sticks, once in a while. but there are no people who have retired as a professional smoker. Not even in “Water World”!

    Look, we know that eating red meat is bad, as well as drinking too much and driving while intoxicated is bad for you and others, as well as being against the law. Do people still do it? Yes. Should they pay for their actions, yes! In the tobacco industry, it was that “they” all the heads of the tobacco companies lied and proclaimed that there was nothing wrong with smoking for decades! It would not hurt you.! Football did not take decades and decades once there was proof, at least now every player who is making millions and millions knows that there can and probably will be health issues of so sort. But, they have a choice. Football is not a drug that hooks you in physically. Tobacco is a drug! But now a drug of choice.

    I ask only this. Is it Really unrealistic not to help the players who created our national pass time, who did not make the kind of money todays players are making with the medical problems that they have acquired over the years? Wow, if not, you have no heart. like our President say’s, “You are a very very very bad man!”

    From Joe T.: This post might not have been directed at me…but I’ll reiterate my two points…I’m all for helping these guys…I get it…that’s cool…But the neglect goes to both the Shield and the Union…the second point is when you’ve led a very, very productive life after leaving football at the age of 35, I just have a hard time with an absolute assertion it’s all NFL/Football’s fault…I can’t buy the fact that EVERY doctor went along with a cover-up especially when there are technologies available now that weren’t around back in the day…Some of the best people, ever, in my life told me several times when I got hurt to shake it off and rub some dirt on it…They didn’t know I blacked out when the wind was knocked out of me or saw stars when the back of my head hit the grass…but now they would or at least take notice.

  18. FbFan's Gravatar FbFan
    May 18, 2017 - 11:16 am | Permalink

    I saw Santa Fe win the Warren passing tournament last weekend. Talk about athletes!!!! They should be league favorites over La Serna and should make noise in CIF since their in Div 10

  19. Jerry#11's Gravatar Jerry#11
    May 18, 2017 - 10:49 am | Permalink

    El Monte wow just heard more coaches resigned!!!!! This is just too bad.

  20. FlyEagleFly's Gravatar FlyEagleFly
    May 18, 2017 - 10:45 am | Permalink

    You offer an overly-simplistic and wrong-headed perspective on the concussion issue. Players are not suing because they got hurt. (Note that nobody sued regarding the long-term impact of knee injuries, etc.) The issue at hand here is that management, and representatives of management willfully stifled and misrepresented the effects of brain trauma. Players were put back out onto the field without being fully appraised of the ramifications of their injuries. Again, it is not an issue of work-related injury, but rather of being willfully misled and mistreated by doctors, owners, and coaches. Further, your assertion that the players union has treated older players as afterthoughts is also incorrect. Look at any of the labor disputes of the last 35-40 years (especially in baseball), and you’ll see that pensions and treatment of pre-millionaire contracts was at the fore of those discussions. You also realize that the Will Smith movie was a Hollywood film and not actual science, right? Try reading the peer-reviewed “League of Denial” instead. It’s fine and great that you want to elevate football to this notion of American toughness and that supporters of Fainaru-Wada and/or safer play are weakening sport, etc., but at least recognize that your statements are teleological opinion rather than fact-based.

    From Joe T.: I did read multiple accounts of the flick and much of it was ginned up to create an emotional response…(whether it is a movie or not) on things that flat out didn’t happen–and there is dispute about the book…It’s great that you want to drink the Kool-Aid and trust what you are told…And No…retired veterans have made issue about their abandonment from both parties (players and league)…and when they have been included its been to window dress…much like when people pushing a cause they’ll say it’s for the children…Buonocanti blames the NFL…period…my argument is that it is tough to assess that his current situation is a direct result of playing in the NFL…and I just don’t buy that EVERY doctor for decades was going to–by act of conscience–just look the other way when/if they were told to.

  21. Dr. Oz.'s Gravatar Dr. Oz.
    May 18, 2017 - 10:17 am | Permalink

    Mail men have reasons to sue. 35 years of carrying a 40 lb. sack for 5 hours a day while trying to avoid being bit by a dog. Up and down hills in LA smog while aching with pain from sore back and feet injuries. After these guys retire they have real issues. Arthritic hips, backs,feet,hands and on and on. But you know what. You never hear about any retired mail man suing after retiring. And there are plenty of other jobs that take it out of you to. Try being an ER doctor these days with people sick with all kinds of leaking.

  22. Colt74's Gravatar Colt74
    May 18, 2017 - 9:58 am | Permalink

    Shades of people suing the tobacco companies. You mean you didn’t think that lighting something on fire and sucking the burning smoke into your lungs could be bad for you?
    So, you also did not think that playing a game where you smash into people as hard as you can, get up, and do it again, and again, and again…. could possible be a bad thing for your body?
    You place a bet and spin the wheel. Sometimes you lose.
    You get paid to play a violent game and spin the wheel. Sometimes you lose.
    No one forces you to gamble with money or your body.

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